new to chicks and have LOTS of questions!!!

[samygwin9]

amazing pics <3 them!!

 

[2Sesslers]

awkward teenagers!

And their feisty Leghorn sisters

And the furbaby sisters. Piper & Bella


Happy Thursday

 

[SA Farm]

Awesome pics! Love the furbabies!!!!

 

[SA Farm]

Okay, just so you all know, I am extremely excited that I just got my first couple of pips on my second attempt at incubating. The first try went horribly wrong due to temp fluxes and just a bad 2nd hand incubator, so my hubby got me a new one and this is it's first go-round. My hopes are sky-high now that I've got pips!

 

[samygwin9]

questions! a farmer friend of mine had some chickens he was going to take to the auction but i said i's take a couple.
they are adult/laying RIRs! is their anything i need to know? my brothers going to help me build a quarentine coop.
how do i mix them in? is it a good idea to mix my "teenagers" with the new girls? (after quarentine of course)
i have 11 teenagers and their are the 2 new girls! same breed. ALL INFORMATION IS HELPFUL!!!


pic tip! todays pic post is RIRS!! if you have any nows the time to post!!

 

[chickzndahood]

haha, I think I already have posted my share. I actually never tried myself but I heard you should put them in the coop when its dark. (That method may just for chicks tho ANYONE CORRECT ME IF IM WRONG!) my dad said he once tried smearing a chicken with the poop. ew I know lol. PLus it didnt even work well!

 

[SA Farm]

Congratulations on your new hens!

You usually want to quarantine for at least 30 days (in case you didn't already know). After quarantine, I usually just close the door to the outside at dusk and put the new chickens in the coop with the rest of them. I open it in the morning so I can observe them to make sure they're getting along. I also try to introduce groups of the same size. For example if I had two hens, I would try to add two or three hens rather than, like, six, just to take away some of the group attacks. Size of the run is also important when you're adding younger or new birds since they need someplace to get away if they are being picked on. I have a much larger coup and run than I need for the number of birds I have, so that seems to help quite a bit. I usually give them a few days to settle in and then I free-range them all.
That's what I've always done and it has worked out very well for me. Also, expect it to take about two weeks for them to be fully integrated together. It usually takes that long for them to sort out the pecking order.
Good luck!